Shukri Abu Baker is a Palestinian political prisoner and former CEO of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), which was once the largest Muslim charity in the U.S. Following the wrongful conviction of Shukri and four of his colleagues, who would become known as the Holy Land 5, he and Ghassan Elashi remain incarcerated 17 years later in the federal prison known as "Bloody Beaumont." While in captivity, Abu Baker penned his first poetry collection, Light from Deep Under: Writing and Art from a Palestinian Prisoner, which debuted in Houston August 23, 2025, at the S.H.A.P.E. Community Center.
The Holy Land Foundation was founded in 1989. Rooted in Palestinian self-determination, the charity provided an incredible amount of material support to Palestinian people, combating the brutality of life under occupation. The HLF programs included orphan sponsorship programs, mass food distribution, constructing schools in the West Bank, and providing back-to-school supplies to Palestinian children. It not only supported charity projects in Palestine, but was the first Texas-based organization to respond to the Oklahoma City bombing.
Shukri and his four colleagues, Ghassan Elashu, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdulrahman Odeh, and Mohammad El-Mezain were targeted prior to the post-9/11 attacks on Arabs and Muslims. The Foundation's success enraged Zionists, who in the early '90s began accusing the organization of funding the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas. The FBI, following the direction of domestic Zionist organizations like the Anti-Defamation League, began wiretapping and surveilling the Holy Land Foundation. And in 1994, the Clinton administration worked with Israel to criminalize Palestinian political engagement through the passage of Material Support for Terrorism laws, which would later be used as justification for the targeting of HLF.
In December 2001, the HLF was raided and shut down for allegedly providing material support to terrorists. In July 2004, the homes of the HLF5 and their families were raided by the FBI and all five men were arrested. Their arrests were followed by two fraudulent trials that relied on "secret" evidence and sham Israeli witnesses. Their second trial resulted in the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of five Palestinian men. Three of them, Abdulrahman Odeh, Mohammed El-Mezain, and Mufid Abdulqader sentenced to 15 and 20 years, were released in 2020, 2022, and 2024, respectively. Along with Ghassan Elashi, Shukri remains imprisoned at the "Bloody Beaumont" federal penitentiary, just an hour away from Houston. Both men are serving 65-year-long "life" sentences.
Since October 7, Shukri's conditions inside have worsened, but he remains steadfast. In a letter recently addressed to a friend, Shukri wrote: "If I die in prison, then this would be my shahada (martyrdom)."
A collaboration between Nida Abu Baker, Shukri's daughter, and local organization Palestine Solidarity TX, the book launch featured a panel discussion with organizer Roshni Ahmed; Nida; Shukri's former cellmate, Asad; and close family friend, Ahmad Chabkoun. Centering Palestinian resistance, the room was full of poppies (the national flower of Palestine), each one holding a martyr's name.
In his poetry collection Light from Deep Under: Writing and Art from a Palestinian Prisoner, Shukri writes about his dreams of eventual freedom, his family, life in prison, and the genocide in Palestine. With his words, he carries his homeland's revolutionary culture and commitment to resistance.
Attendees admire Shukri's art, which reveals both his pain during incarceration and strong devotion to faith and justice.
A close-up of one of Shukri's pieces.
The book launch also featured letter writing to Shukri and Ghassan, where attendees could write letters to the two men and break the isolation of incarceration.
Shukri's handmade prayer beads, which he crafts from bread. Each singular prayer bead is hand-rolled to mimic stone and each set takes about a month to complete. He writes in his book:
"From the deep ends of a prison cell, as I was fiddling with a soft slice of white bread, then balling up a piece between my fingers, an idea sparked in my head. Every bead comes straight from my hands, imagination, and a pure desire to encourage everyone of all faiths to enjoy the remembrance of God."
Many of the beads were a part of Shukri's "Sumud" collection.
Sumud (صمود): Steadfastness
"This Arabic word holds a profound significance for Palestinians, as it embodies their spirit, collectiveness, and determination to endure and persist in the face of adversity under occupation."
An organizer from Palestine Solidarity TX opened the event, stating:
"Shukri's poetry, which brings us here today, illustrates the spirit of resistance and the refusal that Palestinians, especially our political prisoners, teach us all. He writes defiantly, refusing that his support of his people was ever a crime. He refuses to consider that he should have cut himself off from the suffering of his people. He refuses to abandon Palestine—and this refusal has so far cost him 17 years of his life. To this day, in his writing and art, he still resists. Shukri, like many political prisoners in Palestine and the U.S., teaches us that repression does not stop resistance. We will not abandon Gaza or Palestine, even if it means risking our own lives and our own freedom. And we will not abandon Shukri, Ghassan, and all of our political prisoners until they are free. What's the call? Free them all!"
Asad (left) was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 20 years and spent eight years of his sentence as Shukri's cellmate. Since his release in 2024, he has dedicated his life to prison reform and working to free Shukri and Ghassan of the Holy Land 5. During the discussion, Asad recalled his first few meetings with Shukri, who he affectionately calls "Abu," or "father" in Arabic.
"His spirit is so beautiful. He changed my life and helped me build the foundation that I stand on today. We talked about every facet of life, and if I'm going to follow anyone, it's him," said Asad. "If life is about experiences then the 20 years I suffered to meet Abu was priceless."
Ahmad Chabkoun (right) has been visiting Shukri in Bloody Beaumont since he was transferred there in 2014. Ahmad has also dedicated his life to securing the freedom of Shukri and Ghassan. "He became a ray of light in my life I didn't know I had," he said, with tears in his eyes. "We have nothing to be scared of. Abu did nothing wrong."
Nida closed the event reading "Humanitarian Asks for Answers," an excerpt from her father's book:
"A sincere effort to serve humanity. That is how it all started before five charity workers were finally pronounced 'criminals.' Five men were stripped of their liberty and made to dwell in a habitat defined by daily humiliation, deprivation, and violence. In this peace-shuttering reality, Palestinian-American humanitarians were forced to face the demise of liberty at the surge of bigotry, forced to experience first-hand the depth to which a man's heart may free fall when a child, a sibling, or a parent, finally takes up residence in a modest cemetery. Separated, we lingered behind without a chance to say our prayers or final goodbyes. We wept our eyes dry, mourned in solitude. What's more, we have been barred from witnessing a daughter getting married, a baby being born, a graduation ceremony, eyes twinkling with pride. We missed sitting around a delicious meal prepared with delicious love. We craved justice to no avail.
Two men have finished their sentences. 15 years each. Free at last. Another, Mufid [Abdulqader], goes home December of 2024. (He was released a few months ago). That is not to say that any of those HLF men deserved a whiff of prison life. Now, with a 65 year prison sentence each, Ghassan and I have become the poster boys for injustice gone wild. We are serving life sentences for serving lives. Imagine. It has been 15 years already. Who's counting? Or does it really matter? Or count?
Where is the crime in losing sleep over children with shattered bones and broken hearts? What law of the land or of Heaven did we violate when we put together baskets of wheat, oil, rice for hunger stricken men, women, and children? Or did they deserve to vanish with empty stomachs, simply because Palestinians are infatuated with the culture of death. Regardless, what red-horned devil did we unleash when we opened up schools, clinics, and children's libraries for a nation that had been gripped by the merciless occupation? What sacred moment did we desecrate when we rebuilt blown up homes from the rubble? Who was terrorized at the sight of little girls singing and dancing, while showing off their new dresses that matched their new shoes? Or was it that joy should have been forbidden to the orphaned, forsaken, and deprived?
What child does not need or deserve attention? Who was threatened by some third graders anxiously waiting in line for their backpacks stuffed with back to school supplies? What pencil is a guided missile? What book is a ticking bomb? Who was assaulted by the hum of a dialysis machine helping a laborer father wake up to life? Or was it that we, the humanitarian men, need it to have bothered in the least, not a soul frantically ran for shelter from the marching melodies of kindness, generosity, and love. No one had the right to say who lived and who died.
We rooted for life, we cherished life, we protected the sanctity of life. Or was it the mother of all crimes punishable by death and exile? Ghassan and I have come up in age. The dream was that we would meet our Lord while standing on our feet, while still serving humanity, not while serving time for no malice other than being real humans. What mockery does not dwarf in the shadow of such legal travesty?"
Buy Shukri's book, Light from Deep Under: Writing and Art from a Palestinian Prisoner, here.
FREEDOM FOR SHUKRI
FREEDOM FOR GHASSAN
FREE THE HLF 2
FREE THEM ALL